The Secret to Eating Healthy

Today I sat down to eat my lunch.  It was a very simple salad.  Some greens, carrots, red pepper, grape tomatoes, poached chicken topped with a lovely vinaigrette I made with extra virgin olive oil and this amazing balsamic vinegar from a local store in Sedona, AZ.

Wanna see it?

Ok, so I've already eaten most of it but look how nice and colorful it is.

And as I was sitting eating my salad I had an epiphany.  Eating healthy isn't always easy and sometimes you do it because it needs to be done.  I know I've mentioned before how my co-workers like to comment on my food and how they wish they could eat more like me.

Well, the truth is, I don't always like what I eat.  The truth is, sometimes I'd RATHER be eating what they're eating.  But I don't for 2 reasons:

1.  My body does not forgive easily for food indiscretions.  If I stray too far from my regimented eating, then my body strikes back at me and boy is it ugly. 

2.  In my quest for gaining health, I've seen, heard, and read too much.  I know what that bad food is doing to my insides.  I know that in the long run, bad food just isn't doing me any favors health wise.  And if I TRULY want to get better (and I do, I really do) -- and not just lose weight but feel NORMAL again, then I must give my body as much help as possible.

And so I sat eating my pretty salad.  There was no pleasure in any of it.  I was literally eating to get rid of my hunger.  I was eating to fuel my body.  And THAT'S the secret to how I eat healthy.  I know that in order to feel truly good about myself, sometimes I have to make the sacrifice.  Sometimes it's about forgoing what I want in order to give my body what it needs.

And it's not all the time.  Most of the time it's really easy.  But on those days when almost anything else sounds better than what I've prepared for myself, those are the days I just dig in and remind myself that it's just fuel for the fire.